About this project

Broken Telephone (The Whole Story 2014)

$31,863

pledged of $25,000 goal

1,599

backers

Thanks everyone! Missed the Kickstarter? Keep an eye on the-whole-story.com to see when Broken Telephone is available to all!

The short version:

Ryan Estrada spent 7 years writing 18 stories that join together to tell one crazy, globe-spanning crime caper where every character is the hero of their own story and the villain of someone else's. Now, he's teamed up with 18 amazing artists to bring those stories to life.

Until December 14th, you can pay WHATEVER YOU WANT to get a full digital subscription to all of them. You'll get a new issue in your inbox every 2 weeks for 9 months. (your choice of PDF or CBZ)

The long version:

In a Mumbai call center, a customer service representative named Manisha is helping someone fix a cell phone problem when suddenly she overhears a murder on the call. Now Manisha has to solve the mystery, save a boy, catch the killer and become a hero all from a world away.

But here's the thing: That murderer thinks HE'S the hero of the story. So does the assassin he's trying to catch. So does the punk protestor he's trying to save the airport from. So does the corrupt politician she's trying to expose. And so on. It's one big game of....

from Average Handling Time by Rachel Dukes

Broken Telephone is 18 books illustrated by 18+ artists. You can read any book you want whenever you want, but if you read them in order, something amazing happens. Each character is the hero of their story, and the villain of someone else's. They never meet, and everyone does what they think is right, but together they do a whole lot of wrong.

Each story follows the villain of the story before it. You'll meet:

also....

I spent seven years writing Broken Telephone and putting together the puzzle pieces. I've been all over the world getting inspiration for the stories, and put so much ridiculous research into all of these crazy crime capers that I know how to hack a bank's firewall (and have, but only to read comics from their call center,) know adorable secrets about foreign defense systems so classified I can't even tell you what country I'm talking about, have interviewed a pilot about how to shut down an airport, was banned from an ambassador's ball and my Google history probably has me on every watchlist the NSA's got.

Each Broken Telephone book is 12-24 pages of action, comedy, drama, farce, horror, adventure, or some strange combination thereof. You'll get your choice of drm-free retina-resolution PDFs or CBZs delivered to your inbox every two weeks.

That's what I call freedom! From Savior Complex by Will Kirkby

Pay whatever you want and get all 18 issues. 20 dollars? Great! 5 bucks? Sure! $2.99? Cool! $5,000? Heck, I ain't gonna stop you. Even a dollar! That's so close to a nickel an issue that it's impossible to measure in existing monetary instruments!

from Cell Warrior by Kelly Bastow

The rewards stack up! each tier comes with all the rewards of the previous tiers!

Let me explain those in a little more detail for ya!

$18+WHAT'S NEXT? Don't like ambiguity? If you're awesome enough to pay a dollar per issue, we'll cap it all off with "Unbroken" a 24 page bonus book that takes place after Broken Telephone ends that tells you what happens next for all the characters you'll have undoubtedly fallen in love with. The artists for this book will be announced as the Kickstarter continues!

SPOILER: things don't end well for this guy. from Grievous Harm by E.A. Denich

$24+ FORTNIGHTLY COMICS CLUB Along with the 19 comics you're already getting, We'll add a 5 more brand new books so that you get a new digital comic delivered every two weeks for all of 2014! This is a whole bonus subscription to a series of true-life adventure comics. These books were created exclusively for this tier, and would be an entirely separate Kickstarter were I not a crazy person. You'll get:

The Bear From The Bear and the Beach From The Beach (a 30 page story about near death experiences while kayaking across an ocean)

Satyagraha (the 44 page tale of the time I was thrown from a train)

Seomyeon John (a 30 page story about hitchhiking across Korea with a crazy homeless man)

Coca War (A 32 page book about the time I accidentally walked through a war zone and almost unwittingly ended up in prison.)

Stare (A 24 page story about fighting crime with a creepy gaze)

$48+ BACK TO THE BUNDLE If you miss the all-at-once bundle action of our previous collections, or if you missed our previous collections, this is the tier for you! In December, before your fortnightly comic subscription begins, we'll give you a nice big collection of digital comics to read while you wait.

Something Terrible by Dean Trippe is one of the best reviewed books of the year. We have four books by Ren & Stimpy and Dexter's Laboratory artist Gabe Swarr including his newest 40 page mini-graphic novel "Hip Hop Farmboy" and a new WORLD PREMIERE short called "Fly The Coop." We've also got the online premiere of the 27 page comic Wax & Wane by Kelly Bastow! There's a ton of comics from Ian Andersen of Citric Comics featuring astronauts, magic, and space cats. Lots of great fantasy stories from Maya Kern. And that's on top of the previous Whole Story books, featuring comics you can't get anywhere else written by crazy-famous artists to plentiful to name here!

from "Fly The Coop!" by Gabe Swarr

If you already backed a previous Whole Story bundle and therefore already have those first four books, you'll get an extra gift to make up for all the doubles.

from Wax & Wane by Kelly Bastow

$75+ BECOME PART OF THE STORY Not only will you get every single one of those comics, but you (or anyone you appoint in your stead) will be drawn into the final page of Broken Telephone. You'll be a part of the story in a fun, super spoiler-filled way that I cannot reveal!

THERE ARE PHYSICAL REWARDS TOO!

$100+ THE ART COLLECTION You'll receive one original, hand painted animation cel, hand picked from a collection in Japan, as well as a 5x7 pen and ink drawing from Ryan's upcoming book Undercover Korean, and a brand new 5x7 ink drawing of whatever you want on watercolor paper. (along with all previous rewards, or course!

$200+ ORIGINAL HAND DRAWN BOOK Get a one of a kind, hand drawn book featuring the original cover art and complete set of fully readable original art from your choice of our 5 new adventure comics. You also get to choose whichever animation cel you want from the collection, choose the 5x7 original and get hand painted graphite watercolor shading added to your custom 5x7 art!

That's a lot of way great stuff, right?

from Shark Hacking by KC Green.

Here's the awesome thing about digital comics. With the exception of stamps for the top few tiers, every single cent goes to paying artists.

Khin, the activist grandma from Foreign Object Damage by Maya Kern.

Stretch goals!

We reached our goal, but we still have some time left! Since I already organized exactly the book I wanted, without compromises, I tried to make some fun rewards and some good deeds for extra funding!

Risks and challenges

All of the issues are currently works-in-progress, but The Whole Story has successfully delivered thousands of pages of comics to thousands of happy customers. The expertise and network we've built mean that we will get the job done, and if unavoidable circumstances cause one of the artists to be unable to finish their work, we'll be able to find a replacement artist just as amazing.

FAQ

That's a lie. No one ever asks that, people include this question because licensing terms dictate that I have to say that it is.....
"Call to Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/HOWEVER people SHOULD ask that because Kevin MacLeod makes amazing music in so many styles that you can use in your own Kickstarter videos! He is the coolest dude!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5 or more
About $5

HIGH FIVE TIER: You get the EXACT SAME THING as you got in the $1 tier, a digital subscription to 18 comics by 18 artists, but you feel slightly better about it because you were nice enough to toss in a few extra bucks to support the artists.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $18 or more
About $18

WHAT'S NEXT? Don't like ambiguity? If you're awesome enough to pay a dollar per issue, after Broken Telephone ends we'll send you "Unbroken," a 24 page bonus book that tells you what happens next for all the characters you'll have undoubtedly fallen in love with.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $24 or more
About $24

FORTNIGHTLY COMICS CLUB We'll add 5 more brand new books so that you get a new digital comic delivered every two weeks for all of 2014! This includes the real life adventure stories Satyagraha, The Bear From The Bear And The Beach From The Beach, Seomyeon John, Coca War, and Stare.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $48 or more
About $48

BACK TO THE BUNDLE If you miss the all-at-once bundle action of our previous collections, or if you missed our previous collections, this is the tier for you! In December, before the subscription begins, we'll give you a nice big collection of comics to read while you wait. We'll be adding more comics to this tier as the Kickstarter continues, so stay tuned!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $75 or more
About $75

BECOME PART OF THE STORY You (or anyone you appoint in your stead) will be drawn into the final page of Broken Telephone. You'll be a part of the story in a fun, super spoiler-filled way that I cannot reveal!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

THE ART COLLECTION You'll receive one original, hand painted animation cel, hand picked from a collection in Japan, as well as a 5x7 pen and ink drawing from Ryan's upcoming book Undercover Korean and a brand new 5x7 sketch on watercolor paper of whatever you want.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

THE BEAR FROM THE BEAR AND THE BEACH FROM THE BEACH: ORIGINAL ART COLLECTION Get a one of a kind, hand drawn, book. This is the original cover and complete set of fully readable interior pages from the new book.You also get an animation cel, a 5x7 pen and ink original, and a custom 5x7 drawing of whatever you want with graphite watercolor shading added. (also includes everything from all previous non-limited tiers)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

SATYAGRAHA: ORIGINAL ART COLLECTION Get a one of a kind, hand drawn, book. This is the original cover and complete set of fully readable interior pages from the new book. You also get an animation cel, a 5x7 pen and ink original, and get graphite watercolor shading added to your custom 5x7 sketch! (also includes everything from all previous non-limited tiers)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

SEOMYEON JOHN: ORIGINAL ART COLLECTION Get a one of a kind, hand drawn, book. This is the original cover and complete set of fully readable interior pages from the new book. Your animation cel will be upgraded to a two character setup, you'll get a 5x7 pen and ink original, and a custom 5x7 drawing of whatever you want with graphite watercolor shading added. (also includes everything from all previous non-limited tiers)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

COCA WAR: ORIGINAL ART COLLECTION Get a one of a kind, hand drawn, book. This is the original cover and complete set of fully readable interior pages from the new book. Your animation cel will be upgraded to a multi-tiered four character collection, you'll get a 5x7 pen and ink original, and a custom 5x7 drawing of whatever you want with graphite watercolor shading added. (also includes everything from all previous non-limited tiers)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

STARE: ORIGINAL ART COLLECTION Get a one of a kind, hand drawn, book. This is the original cover and complete set of fully readable interior pages from the new book. Your animation cel will be upgraded to a multi-tiered three character collection, you'll get a 5x7 pen and ink original, and get a custom 5x7 drawing of whatever you want with graphite watercolor shading added. (also includes everything from all previous non-limited tiers)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $2,000 or more
About $2,000

LITERAL HIGH FIVE TIER: Wherever you are in the world, artist/adventurer Ryan Estrada will get on a plane, fly there, find you, appear suddenly at an unexpected place and time, silently reach his hand out for a high five, make uncomfortable eye contact for 35 seconds, and then disappear from your life forever. You will also get all the comics and stuff, whatever.